


I Once Worked with Stars

by Anonymous



Category: Cats - Andrew Lloyd Webber
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Polyamory, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:27:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23017750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Jenny has news for her father, which leaves him to reminisce.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: Anonymous





	I Once Worked with Stars

For those first few years after she had passed, Gus could still see Tree in Jenny. Their Jenny. 

He could see her in Jenny's smile, in her dancing, in her laughter - he basks in his daughter's song. You can find him lifting his head and puffing his chest at the pride his daughter brings to the tribe - her dedication to the community. There's so much Tree in Jenny, and it makes him as happy as it makes him sad.

"If only you could see her, Tree," he'd whispered to the stars, "these modern productions... These kittens just don't do it the way we used to. But Jenny. Our Jenny is a star. Our star, Tree." He would imagine Tree's laugh heartedly, and then sigh, as he turns to climb back into bed, as his daughter often beckons him to.

"You are too old to be staying up so late," she tsk'd, holding his paws in hers. "Oh, pa, look at how you're shaking."

"I'm still recovering from the excitement of your perfomance, Dots," he chuckled, and Jenny smiled wryly, tucking her father into bed.

They sit there for awhile, in a comfortable silence. Gus's ears stand to attention as he hears his daughter sigh. "What is it, Dots?" he whispered.

Jenny shook her head, turning her back to Gus. 

"I wish to take a mate," Jenny says eventually, wringing her paws together.

"Oh," Gus said, unfazed, "well, do take him, then." He chuckled. "You're a grown queen Jenny, you don't have to ask me permission-" 

"No," Jenny says, her voice solemn, "pa, there's more to it."

"Hm?"

Jenny turns to face her father, but doesn't meet his eye. "I.. I wish to take two."

"Oh."

There is a beat of silence, and Gus thinks. 

It wasn't only Tree. He remembers Irving, of course - their love was long before Tree. He felt guilty for a moment, thinking that he hadn't had a reminder of Irving like he had of Tree - he passed before he and Tree could birth a kitten.

Gus sighs, a memory crossing his mind. The three of them curling by the fire after an evening show. They - Irving and Gus, that is - were rival pirates, fighting over their love interest, played by Tree, who could never decide. The reality couldn't be further from the truth - they had all loved each other. Gus's heart would skip a beat when he'd see Irving on stage, beside him, and Tree had purposefully embraced them both. "I love you," someone had whispered, by the fire, always.

Oh, how he loved to act with Irving, and how he loved to act with Tree. 

"Pa," Jenny says, waking Gus from his daydream. He makes a noise of acknowledgment, nodding. He sees worry in his daughter's eyes, and he's sure he knows why, but he let's her speak.

"I'm so afraid," she whispered, leaning forward, "of losing them, Pa. If it were just one...but both... I don't know how I would..." She curls by Gus's side, as she used to do when she was a frightened kitten. He hushed her, nuzzling the top of her head.

"There is nothing to be afraid of," Gus whispers. Jenny lifts her head, looking into her father's eyes with teary ones of her own. "You will love them, and they will love you, and if... when their times come, it will come. But you will have loved and be loved, Dots."

"Is it worth it?" she says, her voice hitched. "Is the pain of losing love worth love?"

"Of course," Gus chuckled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Jenny, if I were to go back now, I would have still loved Irving and Tree, even if it means losing them all over again. And especially if it means to have you."

Jenny's tears roll down her cheeks at this, and she presses her face against Gus's neck.

Ah, he hadn't had his Jenny cry like this in years. She had to grow up fast, his daughter. She wanted to become dependent so as to not burden Gus as a single parent, but she never was. She never will be. He hopes she knows this as he holds her tighter. 

"Do you ever stop being in love? After?"she says, her voice muffled.

"Never. And it never stops hurting, either. But I've gotten better at healing. Every day, with you."

Jenny pulls back with a weak laugh, her smile is small. She wipes her nose and smooths her dress.

"Thank you, pa."

"Of course, Dots."

They sit in a comfortable silence again, but this time it's more... Intimate. More open. 

"Who are they?"

"Hm?"

"The cats that have stolen my dear daughter's heart."

Jenny blushes, her head tilted downward. 

"Skimbleshanks -"

"A railway cat?" Gus says, perked, "isn't he only a novice?"

"He'll run it one day, I think," she smiles. That's how Tree used to smile when talking about Irving, he remembers.

"And Jellylorum."

"Ah," he nods, "isn't she a fan of mine?"

"Oh yes. She talks about your work all the time," there's a pause, a warm expression on her face, "we've actually been thinking of working together on a number, and, well..."

"I see." Gus rests his paw on Jenny's. She meets his gaze.

"I'm so happy for you, my Dots," he says as he lays back to rest his head against the pillows. "Its wonderful to love, isn't it?" 

"It is," Jenny nods. "Would you mind if I brought them here sometime? To the theatre?" 

"Not at all." 

"Thank you." 

"Thank you for telling me." 

Jenny's smile is bright, and she gets up from the bed. She says goodnight to her father, and turns to leave to her own. 

Gus thinks, as he lays there alone, that at least what Jenny had inherited from him was his abundance of love. 

"Did you see that, Tree? Irving? She's just like us. Our Jenny."

And then he's quiet as he looks through the gap in the roof. 

"I love you," he whispers to them both, only for them to hear. When he sees a twinkle of light in the sky, just below the Heaviside Layer, a tear of joy rolls down his cheek. 

He sleeps peacefully, knowing he and his Jenny were safe under the night sky. 


End file.
